Letter: Time to shut down marijuana dispensaries

I am deeply concerned that governments and police are allowing the production and sale of illegally produced marijuana to the public through unregulated grow operations and store-front dispensaries. The marijuana is unregulated, not tested and we don’t know where or who is producing it.

Currently in Canada, the only legal way to access medical marijuana is by mail through a licensed producer or by growing your own with a personal production license. Licensed producers must comply with strict quality control, security, criminal record checks, record keeping, zoning and inspection requirements. None of this applies to illegal producers and dispensaries. These illegal operations may be supported by organized crime and it seems like everyone, including doctors are cashing in. This means that tax revenue is not being collected and money is going to the black market.

What gets me is that nobody wants to deal with it. I have contacted officials in several municipalities, my MP and the RCMP and each pass the buck saying it’s not their problem to deal with. Are they waiting for people to start dying because they bought cannabis laced with fentanyl from an illegal dispensary? Are they at all concerned with the liability risk and legal action they could face?

My question: Why are they letting this illegal activity go on and on? The controlling bodies need to shut down illegal dispensaries and grow ops that jeopardize the safety of our communities. They should also demand a timeline from the federal government to get legalization legislation in place now as this has gotten out of hand.

I strongly encourage people to contact their local municipality, MP and the RCMP to put a stop to all this illegal activity as it is sending the wrong message to the public.